When a truck, trailer or some other vehicle is parked at a loading dock of a building, often a manually operated vehicle brace is used to inhibit the vehicle's movement as cargo is transferred to and/or from the vehicle. Some example vehicle braces include wheel chocks, manually operated vehicle restraints, and portable trailer stands.
A wheel chock wedges between a dock driveway and a wheel of a vehicle to inhibit the vehicle from accidentally pulling forward away from the dock.
Manually operated vehicle restraints include wheel-blocking barriers mounted to a track. The track is positioned on the driveway generally parallel to the parking area. The barrier can be manually moved along the track to position the barrier just ahead of a wheel of the vehicle. The barrier can then be manually moved laterally directly in front of the wheel, thereby blocking the wheel and preventing the vehicle from accidentally moving forward.
When the vehicle is a tractor/trailer combination, a portable trailer stand can be manually moved underneath the trailer to support the trailer's front end. This allows the tractor to leave the dock area while the trailer is loaded and/or unloaded of cargo without risk of the trailer nose diving.
Certain examples are shown in the above-identified figures and described in detail below. In describing these examples, like or identical reference numbers are used to identify the same or similar elements. The figures are not necessarily to scale and certain features and certain views of the figures can be shown exaggerated in scale or in schematic for clarity and/or conciseness. Additionally, several examples have been described throughout this specification. Any features from any example can be included with, a replacement for, or otherwise combined with other features from other examples. As used in this patent, stating that any part is in any way positioned on (e.g., located on, disposed on, formed on, coupled to, etc.) another part, means that the referenced part is either in contact with the other part, or that the referenced part is spaced from the other part with one or more intermediate part(s) located therebetween. Stating that any part is in contact with another part means that there is no intermediate part between the two parts.